In half of the polls, the decision on who got to stay and who was eliminated came down to *a single vote*.

Every single person leaving this week is a dear friend of Idol, folks that I personally know and like a great deal outside of Livejournal. (Well, I've only met one of them in person, but I've interacted with them on other online forums)

One of them actually wrote an entry that when I read it my reaction was "Definitely safe for this week!" because I enjoyed it and was confident that everyone else would as well.

I just went back and refreshed my memory on all four of them, and yeah, I would have put money on them being safe. But that's the thing, my personal taste isn't everyone's - and finding something that someone likes just a little bit more, around here? That's easy. It's just where we are in the season, that every week is going to be someone strong and the results are going to be shocking.

For the record, I didn't correctly predict any of the folks going home, although I did strongly suspect that the folks who got the deadline extended would probably end up having a hard time in the poll.

Thank you to all of you for coming out this season, and sharing your stories with us. I hope to see more of them in the Home Game in the weeks to come, and of course, to see you hanging out in the Green Room and cheering on your own personal favorites left in the competition!

J/k, I saw the writing on the wall for weeks, and was surprised I lasted this long without playing the social side of this. I'm just glad I was able to stick with it until I got voted out, but I wish I'd had more time to interact with everyone more. After I signed up, there were a couple of things that ended up taking over my life that I didn't expect. What I primarily wanted to get out of this was a few more pieces I could publish in a collection I wanted to put together, and I think I accomplished that.

Thank you to those of you who chose to support me and my writing even in the face of me not commenting on your entries most weeks. <3

These results cut deep. I'm dumbfounded. I voted for everyone of you and just didn't see it coming.

My very best wishes to adoptedwriter I just can't imagine Idol without you-- hugs, banana_galaxy we never did get to do the skype thing, beldarzfixon don't know you well though I would have liked to, karmasoup I cannot believe this!--Hugs.

I know I will see some of you because we're friends, but I will miss you all.

I'm super shocked — and sad — about these results too! All of you are such amazing writers, and I've voted for all of you so many times. This week was terrifying — I know in our poll it was insanely close the entire time. I was wondering at one point if we were going to have an 11-person tie!

I am really shocked to see 'adoptedwriter' go :/(because the last time I checked the polls before I slept she was safe) Also, 'karmasoup' 'beldarzfixon' and 'banana_galaxy' I really enjoyed reading you all this season Hope to see you all around. *Hugs* Take care.

Thanks for the good wishes! I'm just glad to get in on Season Ten, with all the busy and turmoil -- and I actually entered in Second Chance *because* of all the chaos in Beldar's real-world; this was something to focus on and get me in "accomplish something" mode so I can get in the mental frame to take care of this thing-I-must-do, then this one, etc.

Seeing the eliminations is kinda like that rare election when a bunch of old established Congresspeople get voted out to make room for young up-and-comers. Know what I mean, banana_galaxy, adoptedwriter and karmasoup?